As a transfer conveyor for conveying works to be conveyed such as car bodies or the like in an factory, various transfer conveyors according to the forms of conveyors, which load works to be conveyed and construction shapes of the conveying lines and the like have been adopted.
Thus as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, a conventional transfer conveyor 500 comprises a number of connected conveyor units 520 each of which sets the conveying pitch Lp (storage conveying gap) of a work W to be conveyed to a unit length L1, and conveys a conveying skid 510 of the length L2 shorter than the length Lw in a longitudinal direction of the work W to be conveyed. Further, the transfer conveyor 500 provides a magnetic material 512 to be detected on an end bottom surface portion on the conveying skid 510 side, arranges a magnetostrictive sensor 526 in a conveying direction on the conveyor unit 520 side and provides a number of driving rollers 524, which control the movement and stop of the conveying skid 510 in a conveyor unit 520 by a real time output signal, in the conveyor unit 520 so that the collision between a leading work W to be conveyed and the Trailing work W to be conveyed on a conveyor track is prevented. It is noted that the reference numeral 523 in FIG. 14 denotes a supporting bracket, which provides the conveyor unit 520 upright on a floor surface of a conveying passage at predetermined intervals, and the reference numeral 525 denotes a driving motor for driving a driving roller 524 (see for example Patent Reference 1) [Patent Reference 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-137819 (page 1, FIG. 5)